                                                             6/13/95
WEBSTER.OCX BETA BUILD 908 For Windows NT and Windows 95     

(WEBSTER.DLL BETA BUILD 908 For Windows 3.1 also available)

                    
                    The Webster OLE2 Custom Control
                    -------------------------------

              An HTML-Aware OCX From Trafalmador Software
              -------------------------------------------


What Is It ?
------------

The Webster OCX is a drop-in HTML display solution, with basic Web 
browsing capabilities.  Webster's primary function is to interpret
and display HTML pages, including hyperlinks and images.  It differs
from other Web browsers in that it is not a stand-alone application 
but rather a tool for application developers.  When embedded in an 
OCX-capable container, Webster exposes properties, methods and events 
which allow the container to maintain a high degree of control over
Webster actions.  Using a language such as Basic, you can monitor user
actions and approve, veto or replace any clicked URL.  Browsing 
sessions may be fully automated for applications such as slide shows
or web-walkers, or merely guidedby substituting, suggesting alternatives
or disallowing access to certain URLs.  Alternatively, a container may
remain uninvolved, allowing the user to perform the usual point-and-
click Web browsing.

Possible applications include: 

o  An automated display or kiosk.

o  A Web search robot, able to perform network tree walks and retrieve
   documents based on specific criteria.

o  A guided browser, which directs the user to preselected destinations 
   yet allows side excursions inside the permitted domain.

o  An HTML reader for documents distributed on CD-ROM.

o  A Reader for an HTML forms and images database.

o  Build a better Web browser, adding infrastructure and features 
   like timer-driven events and specialized address book creation on
   top of Webster's native capabilities.


Who Needs It ?
--------------

The target audience for Webster is the application developer who needs
to incorporate a Web browser (or just an HTML display) into a Win32 
product, without resorting to heavyweight OLE solutions such as 
MS-WORD.  The OCX is implemented as an in-process DLL, which is both
quick and compact.  Most future program developments environments will
support the OCX format, which is being promoted by a very large 
company.

The 32-bit webster.ocx can be used under Windows NT and Windows 95 (being
multithreaded, it cannot run under Win32s).  It is optimized for slow 
modems.


Current State: Beta
-------------------

o  32-bit multithreaded implementation.
o  One-click local disk browsing.
o  HTML 2.0 implemented, many 3.0 and de-facto standard extensions.
o  HTTP 0.9 protocol over winsock, heuristic redirection support.
o  Ftp and other protocols are under development.
o  Can save an HTML page to disk, including images, and load from disk.
o  A simple demo MDI browser (Vogon) is provided in the Beta kit.

Please let us know of any bugs you find or improvements you would
like to see.  The beta kit may be freely redistributed.


Installation
-------------

The complete distribution kit is in wbstrXXX.zip, with XXX being 
the build number.  If you already have all the DLLs listed below 
(they are MSVC2.1 redistributables), you can download 
wbstrXXXnodlls.zip instead.  Both can be found at our ftp site.
 
The wbstrXXX.zip distribution kit contains the following files:

o  webster.ocx     The Webster OCX control
o  HotList.htm     Sample hotlist
o  vogon.exe       A quick-and-dirty demo browser
o  html.dfa        Required data file
o  html.llr        Required data file
o  mfc30.dll       Required DLL
o  mfco30.dll      Required DLL
o  mfcn30.dll      Required DLL
o  oc30.dll        Required DLL
o  msvcrt20.dll    Required DLL
o  readme.txt      This file

Create a directory in which to unzip the files.  All the files may be
left in that directory (you need not unzip any DLLs which are already
present in your system or system32 directory).  The only strict 
requirement is that html.dfa and html.llr reside in the same directory
as webster.ocx.

An OCX control must be entered in the system registry before it can be
used.  To register Webster, run Vogon.exe and select Register Webster
from the File menu, then select webster.ocx in the dialog box.  You
only need to do this once.  Note that the same menu offers an Unregister
Webster option, for complete uninstallation.  If you need to move the 
OCX to a different directory, unregister it and re-register from the 
new location.  Remember to move html.dfa and html.llr along with the
OCX.

Test the control using the Vogon Poetry browser described below.  
MSVC2.1 owners may also exercise the control using the Test Container
from the CDK (tstcon32.exe).


Release notes:
--------------

Beta 908: Cosmetic: improved repaint, introduction of our Web site.

Beta 907: Hyperlink jumps allowed without canceling load.  Corrected
          handling of raw text files.

Beta 906: Forms fully functional, including multiple forms and multiple
          Submit buttons per form.  BASE tag supported (overridable for
          file: scheme via the IgnoreBaseInFile property).

Beta 905: History lists implemented.  Color selection and tiled-image
          background supported.

Beta 904: ISINDEX tag supported, for simple searches.

Beta 903: A directory browsing feature has been added (the "D" button).  
          Parallel 16-bit OCX is available for beta test.

Beta 902: When a control is newly created, the default setting for the 
          HomePage property points to the file HotList.htm in the current
          directory.  The Home button displays it.

Beta 901: The Click event has two arguments, the URL clicked by the user
          and a Cancel boolean.  If the container ignores the event, the
          URL is loaded.  The container can set Cancel to TRUE, causing
          the user request to be ignored, or leave Cancel FALSE and 
          alter the URL argument resulting in a load of the modified URL.

          The container (or user) may also initiate a page load by setting
          the PageURL property.


The Vogon Poetry Browser
------------------------
The Vogon Poetry browser is not a work of art, just a quick-and-dirty
demonstration platform for Webster.  It simply embeds a single Webster
OCX in each MDI child window, and does not interact with the control
except for the usual OLE housekeeping.  Vogon demonstrates Webster's 
basic display and browsing features only, and is not a full-blown OLE
control container.  

Use the property pages to set select an initial URL and set other 
Webster properties (the "P" button invokes the properties dialog box),
then File | Save the configuration.  In the title bar of the control,
click the green button to load or reload the URL specified by the 
PageURL property, click the red button to cancel a load.  The PageURL
property is automatically set when a hyperlink is clicked.

Vogon is an MSVC2.1 application.  The source is available in vogon.zip
and may be freely modified and distributed.


Trafalmador Software
--------------------

e-mail:      tanny@netcom.com
CompuServe:  70244,1214

WWW:         http://www.vpm.com/trafalmador
ftp:         ftp.netcom.com/pub/ta/tanny/

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